Suggestions
Joanne Rodriguez, LEED AP, FitWel Amb, CDT
Founder & CEO of Mycocycle, Inc., innovative leader in sustainable waste management
Joanne Rodriguez is a notable figure in the environmental and sustainability sectors, currently serving as a Board Trustee at the Chicago Academy of Science-Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum since April 2023. She is also the Founder and CEO of Mycocycle, a company that utilizes mycology to transform waste into valuable resources by employing fungi to remove toxins from materials like construction waste.2
Rodriguez has a background in sustainability within the construction products manufacturing industry, where she held significant leadership roles, including Director of Sustainable and Strategic Initiatives at Tremco Roofing and Building Maintenance. Her expertise encompasses circular economy practices, green chemistry, and biomimicry.23 She has been recognized for her innovative approaches to waste management and sustainability, earning accolades from organizations like Forbes and the Environmental Protection Agency.23
Her work at Mycocycle focuses on decarbonizing the construction material supply chain and promoting the idea that waste can be viewed as a resource rather than a burden. This aligns with her broader mission to drive a new recycling economy and enhance environmental health through innovative practices.124
Highlights
#fungifriday “Biohybrid robots” powered by mycelium? YES!
Thank you to our colleague Eric Habib for bringing this article to us. The work at Cornell University is an extension of global studies around the transmission of electrical currents through mycelium.
Mycelium is a network that runs miles and miles underground. We know its capacity to exchange carbon as a food source with the ecosystem around it. But this growing body of work around the capacity to be the new “battery” of the future is so encouraging. The currents running through the hyphae is remarkable in fact.
With all of the potential of fungi, fixing our manmade dilemmas, I do think our conservation efforts need to continue to track at the same rate of development. If you value fungi like we do at Mycocycle, Inc., I’d encourage you to follow the work of the Fungi Foundation, support them, and advocate for the organism most akin to humankind.
Thanks to Eric, and Cornell, for the curiosity and continuing ingenuity! Maybe we will have robotic trash eating mushrooms soon….🍄
#fungifriday Congratulations to Paul Shapiro and The Better Meat Co. for securing this DoD backed grant!
I had the chance to be on Paul’s “Business for Good” podcast a few years ago. He challenged me to consider if the fungi that could be grown from waste could be eaten as food. Maybe it’s a good time to test this thesis out?
My response is always…you first btw. 😉
Good to see his continued growth and development! 🍄
